


La Nina

by Night_Queen3927



Series: The life and adventures of Moana(From different perspectives) [2]
Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Gen, Goddesses, Legends, Magic, Mythology - Freeform, Post-Awakening, Pre-Awakening, Story within a Story, belief gives power
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-01 21:28:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20264791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_Queen3927/pseuds/Night_Queen3927
Summary: Generations have passed since Moana set sail to go on a journey to reunite the heart with Te Fiti with Maui. Moana is still sleeping, waiting to gain enough power to awaken to her new life as a goddess. This explores how the story of Moana changed over several generations and children's reaction to the story.





	La Nina

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to my first story, End of an Era, so you can read this on its own, but you might be a little bit confused at some parts of it.

_A long time ago, there was a trickster demigod named Maui. Maui was one of the strongest and cleverest men out there, he pulled islands up from the sea to give us homes to live on. He killed an eel and buried its guts giving us coconuts that we use everyday. He brought us fire so that we wouldn’t freeze during the winter and nights. He caught the sun and slowed it down so that we could have a longer day. Maui was a friend to all mortals, only wanting to make their lives better_

_But one day, Maui went too far and didn’t think about the consequences of his actions. He stole the heart of Te Fiti in a misguided attempt to give mortals the power to create **life**. Then a monster awoke, Te Kā, a demon of fire and earth that would burn down the world to get the heart of Te Fiti. _

_Te Kā smacked Maui out of the sky. Maui lost his grip on his hook as well as the heart. The hook was lost in Lalotai and ended up in the claws of Tamatoa and served as a centerpiece on his glittery shell. The heart fell into the sea where it was hidden away for someone brave of heart and kind of spirit who could reunite the heart with Te Fiti._

_Years later, someone who was brave of heart and kind of spirit was selected by the sea to be the keeper of the heart. That someone was Moana, the Chieftess of our tribe just 4 generations ago. _

“Mom told me that our bloodline goes straight to Moana herself, that we are descended from Akohato, her fourth child!” A childish voice piped up, breaking the flow of the story.

“Hush! I’m telling her story right now. All of you children can compare your lineages after the story is done. Now where was I?” A female voice said, husky from age.

“When Moana was picked to reunite Te Fiti with her heart!” A different voice said, brimming with excitement.

“That’s right. Let us get back to the story.” The woman laughed and segued back into the story.

_At that time, all travel on the sea and ocean was banned because of the darkness that had spread from Te Kā, with demons ravaging the seas and sickness destroying the crops. The Elder Tala was responsible for telling the stories of their history and she realized that Moana had a different destiny than most of the others on the island. Elder Tala was the one who showed the boats to Moana and told her what she needed to do, to find the demigod Maui who would help her in her quest to reunite the heart with Te Fiti. With her destiny now known to Moana, Elder Tala handed the heart to her and Moana set off on her boat, ready to find Maui. _

_Moana sailed the sea proving her courage and skill in wayfinding by surviving a horrible storm that suddenly beset her and navigating through it to find the island on which Maui had landed, unable to leave without the aid of his hook. Maui was too obsessed with escaping the island to listen to Moana though, he tricked her into a cave and stole her boat to go and retrieve his hook from Lalotai and Tamatoa. But Moana was clever, she escaped through a hole in the top of the hole and dove into the sea to pursue Maui. As the chosen of the sea, she wielded great power and could utilize the sea to go faster and catch up to Maui. When she was close enough, she launched herself out of the water, landing on her boat and confronting Maui. _

_Maui was stubborn though, he didn’t want to listen at all. He kept throwing Moana off the boat, refusing to pay attention to the woman in front of him. Moana was equally stubborn, using the sea to get back on the boat until, finally, Moana won the battle of wills. Maui gave up, and agreed to listen to her story and request._

_But when Moana had finished telling Maui about her destiny to reunite the heart with Te Fiti, Maui refused to help. The loss of his hook had broken his adventurous and courageous spirit, crippling him with self-doubt. At that point, they were suddenly set upon by the Kakamora, small demons wearing armor made from coconuts._

“That doesn’t sound like a demon!” A voice broke in, almost indigent at the image. “Demons are supposed to be big, huge things that are scary with sharp teeth and claws and horns!”

“Yeah! They need to look mean and bad! Coconuts can’t look mean or bad!” Another voice chimed in.

“The Kakamora could wield weapons and wore hats made of many things from bone to shells to rock.” The adult woman said, her voice exasperated. “May I please continue the story now, children?”

“But that isn’t scary! I have a hat with bone decorations and my axe for splitting wood, and no one calls me scary. They just call me adorable and a hard worker!” A third voice interjected, almost in a pouty tone at the perceived slight of not being scary.

“The Kakamora are tiny berserk demons that wear coconuts and run around waving weapons. They qualify as scary. Now, I’m continuing with the story, and the next child to prevent it will be tossed out of the pavilion and not allowed back in for the rest of the story!” The woman huffed, her patience exhausted.

_The Kakamora were after the heart of Te Fiti and attacked the small craft that held Moana and Maui. They seized the sealed container that held the heart from Moana and retreated to their ship, giving it to their chief so that the heart could be extracted and used by them. But Moana attacked, she boarded their ship and stole back the heart using her oar to fend them off. _

_With the heart retrieved and the Kakamora defeated, Moana and Maui made their escape, sailing off on the ocean to continue with their quest. Moana and Maui then made their agreement after Maui saw the strength that Moana had inside of her. Moana agreed to go with Maui to Lalotai to retrieve his hook from Tamatoa, the demon crab of epic proportions that held a taste for shiny things. _

_They arrived at the entrance to the demon realm, and Maui opened it, giving Moana a warning of what lay ahead. Demons of all shapes and sizes, all of which would love to feast upon a young mortal girl. Both jumped in, Maui going first so that he could defend against any demons that showed up until Moana appeared._

_Both arrived safely in Lalotai, and continued on their journey to find Tamatoa. When they found Tamatoa, Maui took the lead because he had the expertise to deal with it. Due to Tamatoa’s obsession with shiny things, Maui convinced Moana to dress up in shiny objects to catch Tamatoa’s attention while Maui removed his hook from Tamatoa’s back._

_But the plan failed. Tamatoa’s beady eyes saw that it was Moana concealed underneath the shiny objects and he was disgusted with the fact that she was a human and in Lalotai. Brave and cunning, Moana quickly seized Tamatoa’s attention and kept it fixated on her to give Maui the chance to retrieve his fish hook by asking him about his lust for the shiny things that bedecked his shell._

_The ploy worked, Tamatoa launched into a monologue about himself and why he had so many glittering things attached to himself and why he deserved to be at the top of the world, and how he would get there by using the heart of Te Fiti. Moana continued to distract him by asking pointed questions and sympathizing with the fact that he was forgotten and alone in Lalotai._

_Maui seized his hook and with his confidence restored fought Tamatoa, forcing him to release Moana from his cruel grasp. But Tamatoa was a sneaky crab, he fought Maui to a standstill by utilizing his bulk to pin Maui down so that he could reclaim the hook and ** eat ** Maui in one bite. Moana fearing for the life of her companion came up with a plan to prevent that. She coated a rock with bioluminescent moss and grabbed Tamatoa’s attention with it, hurling it into a pit when he started to barrel towards her, ranting about how he would claim the heart and use it to become the strongest demon in Lalotai._

_At that moment Maui transformed into a hawk and grabbed Moana in his claws, flying out of the cave with faith that Moana’s creativeness meant that she held onto the true heart while Tamatoa was pursuing a fake. They successfully escaped the realm of the monsters and landed on their boat. With Moana’s part of the deal fulfilled, they set sail to the island that housed Te Fiti, ready to fight their way past Te Kā. The plan that they devised was deceptively simple, Maui would distract Te Kā while Moana slipped past and got to the island home of Te Fiti, where she would reunite the heart with Te Fiti._

_It was smooth sailing until they got to the barrier reef, Te Kā raging on top of the rocks, lava and ash flying everywhere. Maui bravely attempted to do his part, he transformed with his magical hook into a fierce hawk, attacking Te Kā with all of his strength. Yet before Moana could venture into the waters that surrounded the island, Maui was struck out of the sky. He was forced to retreat, unable to beat Te Kā with the tricks that he had. Moana fell back to check on him, her honor refusing let her continue when there might be an injured comrade behind her. _

_Maui fled, his fears resurfacing in the wake of facing Te Kā, terrified that his hook would be broken beyond repair and with it his sense of self worth. Moana, saddened by his desertion, drifted on the sea, thinking about the next move that she could take. Her heart weary and spirit tired from the failure that she had just suffered as well as the loss of the one person that she thought she could count on to right the horrific wrong that had been done to Te Fiti, Moana gave the heart to the sea, begging that the sea pick a different person, one worthy to be a hero because she wasn’t._

_The sea accepted the heart back and set in a coral reef, but it refused to give up. It woke the spirit of Elder Tala, the one person on the island who encouraged Moana to go to the sea, and sent her to talk with Moana in an attempt to bring back the strong heart of Moana and her stubborn spirit._

“Wait! Moana can’t give up! She still needs to give Te Fiti her heart back!” A boy yelped, his voice quavering.

“Haven’t you ever heard her story before? Moana always puts the heart back in the right place.” A girl scoffs, her voice derisive. 

“Both of you, hush. Listen to the story before you interrupt. And don’t spoil the story for him, it’s never fun when people know what happen before they hear it for the first time in the entirety.” The female storyteller quickly put a stop to the bickering before it could devolve into a full blown argument that would’ve swept up every kid listening to the story. “Back to the story, you’ll find out what happened to the heart soon.”

_ Elder Tala manifested upon Moana’s boat, a ghostly blue version of her at her happiest. Moana immediately recognized her because her form was that of the old woman that she grew up with. True to her status as an Elder of Moana’s tribe, Elder Tala wove a complex metaphor, comparing Moana to the boat that they were on. That both of them had suffered damages that broke them down, but all the damages could be fixed, Moana only needed to be strong enough to pull all the broken pieces back together._

_Her spirit restored and her confidence boosted, Moana dove into the sea to retrieve the heart, the spark of determination fanned into a raging wildfire to restore Te Fiti’s heart. The heart secured firmly in her grasp, Moana got back on her boat and started to fix it; she mended the sail, wrapped leather around the broken oar, and smeared pitch on the cracks so that the boat wouldn’t take on water. Then, Moana set sail back to the ring of fire that Te Kā lived on, a new plan crafted to get past the demon of fire.  
She would approach from the front sailing straight into the maw of the beast, but when Te Kā attacked, throwing fire and lava, she would then change her course in the midst of the smoke, so that she could slip through a slip gap off to the side._

_Moana’s plan worked perfectly! Te Kā took the bait, hurling flames and fiery lava at Moana’s small boat, all landing in the water and creating smoke and steam that concealed Moana’s escape._

_But alas, Te Kā was too fast. The demon realized that Moana had changed her course and attacked her, Moana’s boat close enough to the rock circle that Te Kā could just reach out and claw the boat to shreds, sending Moana to the depths of the ocean. _

_Then out of nowhere, Maui swooped in as an eagle, claws outstretched and a defiant screech issuing from his throat. He successfully drew Te Kā’s attention away from Moana, allowing her to get through the boundary and to the island. When Moana successfully made it to the island, the heart clutched in her hand, Maui withdrew, wings beating to keep him aloft in the air and far enough from Te Kā that it would be impossible for Te Kā to swat him out of the sky._

_Moana disembarked her boat and dashed into the forest on the island, heading directly to the heart of the island where Te Fiti slept. _

“And then she gave Te Fiti her heart back!!” A voice cheered. “And everyone was happy!”

“The story isn’t done yet! Moana still needs to deal with Te Kā!” Another voice argued. 

“The story is almost done children. Just wait and listen a little longer and you’ll know what happened.” The woman said, her voice soft and patient.

_But, alas, Te Fiti wasn’t on the island where all the legends said she slept. There was only an indentation in the ground, the perfect size for Te Fiti to rest her body during her slumber and streaks of black racing from it to the edges of the ocean. _

_Te Fiti had become Te Kā!_

_The loss of her heart, the source of all life and creation, had driven Te Fiti berserk with rage and desperation until she became Te Kā, a demon that was focused solely on retrieving the heart and taking it back for herself._

_Moana, upon realizing this, knew exactly what she had to do. She turned on her heel and sprinted for the shoreline of the island, moving as if a peregrine falcon had granted her the ability to fly, her feet touching the ground for only a split second before pushing off to continue her race. _

_Moana reached the edge of the cliff and drove her fist up into the air, the heart of Te Fiti glinting green in the light cast by Te Kā. Te Kā was distracted from trying to swipe at Maui and she fixated on the gem, the yellow eyes conveying her desperation and insanity. _

_Moana looked down at the sea and uttered five words, five words that changed everything_

_“Let her come to me.”_

_Which that soft request, the sea split in two revealing a strip of dry land that would allow Te Kā to cross the sea and get to Moana._

_Te Kā hesitated for a single moment, eyes showing her confusion before it was drowned by all-consuming madness. With that, she **lunged** off of the circle of rocks and onto the strip of land. Digging her claws into the sand, Te Kā raced across, focusing only on seizing the heart from Moana before it disappeared from her grasp. Fire streamed behind her, dancing in time with the desperation visible in her crimson-tinged ivory eyes._

_Moana was a stark contrast to Te Kā. Every step that she took was calm and measured, with no rush behind it. Her face was calm and the only emotion that she showed was determination, etched into the lines of her face and glinting in her brown eyes._

_Moana stopped on top of a rock that gave her a boost in height and get her closer to Te Kā. Te Kā’s chaotic movements started to slow when she realized that Moana was in one place and she wasn’t going to move away. As Te Kā slowed down, the lava running through her veins and the fire that draped itself around her form started to slow down and disappear, allowing the heart spiral to show on her chest. _

_Te Kā came to a complete stop in front of Moana, her eyes softening from the blazing white to a gentler red and the lava flowing in her veins stopping, turning her body color from an active lava field to a swath of cooled and solidified lava. Moana placed a hand on Te Kā’s cheek and pressed her forehead to the bridge of Te Kā’s nose, pressing the Heart back into the spiral where it belonged. _

_With that, flowers erupted from the land, swirling around Te Kā, and when they had faded away, Te Fiti was standing there. Te Fiti picked Moana up and walked back to her island, Maui joining them part of the way there._

_As thanks for Maui assisting Moana in restoring her heart, Te Fiti restored his hook to prime condition. Of course, Moana had to apply some gentle persuasion to get Maui to apologize before Te Fiti did so. With a whoop, Maui took to the skies, ready to go back on his adventures. For Moana, Te Fiti crafted a fine boat, one designed to withstand all the different trials that she could face in the ocean. With a final press of Moana’s head to the bridge of Te Fiti’s nose, Moana took the boat and set sail, ready to return home to teach all of her people wayfinding._

_And, Te Fiti, well she went back to sleep after seeing Moana off. In her sleep, Te Fiti purified the darkness that had spread across all the oceans and seas, as well as sending different demons, such as the Kakamora, back to Lalotai _

“And that is the story of Moana the Wayfinder of the Seas and the Wavedancer.” The woman said, her voice happy with the conclusion of the story.

“Wow! That was awesome! Moana is super cool!” A young voice squealed, excitement evident with every word.

“Moana is the reason that we have all those boats and the wayfinding techniques. It was all lost to history before she learned it.” A smug voice said, lording their knowledge over the others.

“Teacher?” A quiet voice asked, “What happened to Moana after she gave the heart back to Te Fiti?”

“She came back to the island and taught the first generation of wayfinders and started a family. Heremoana, Vaimiti, Kaikoa, and Akohako are all her children and they helped expand our village to the many different islands that we live on today.” The female teacher said, “Moana sailed on the sea for as long as she possibly could, she even gave birth to Vaimiti and Kaikoa on the sea. But when her hands started to shake and her eyes lost their keenness, she was forced to stay on the island, not wanting to force her children to see her sail off, knowing that she would never return. That is when she got her second title, Wavedancer. She would dance along the shore and in the waves, each movement reminiscent of the movement of the waves.”

“Did Maui come back to see Moana?” Another voice chimed in, pitched in curiosity.

“No one knows for sure. Some say that during the nights that the sea was especially calm, that is when Maui came to shore and danced with Moana on the shore.” The woman said, her voice soft and quiet as if sharing a secret.

~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_

Hundreds of leagues away and underneath the rippling surface of the ocean, a bed of many colored coral shifted in the currents.

Eyelids snapped open, revealing eyes the color of melted chocolate. Hands pressed against the coral to force the slim body upright and into a sitting position and then smoothed back the chaotic mess of long, black curls so that they fell behind the shoulder. A hand drifted through the water until it reached eye height, twisting and turning to be inspected, and a gentle voice said, “What happened to me?”

A wavy figure consolidated in front of the person, made out of water and lacking any defining features. “I’m glad to see you awake, Moana.” The voice was just like the sea, smooth and gentle, yet with a backbone that hinted at the fact that they could easily become violent and deadly.

“Nāmaka,” Moana gasped, quickly shifting into a bow before the deity of the sea. “What can I do for you?”

“Congratulations, Moana.” Nāmaka said, a chuckle resonating from their throat and reverberating through the waters surrounding them. Moana cocked her head, a look of confusion on her face. “Your story has been told enough times, and enough people know your story, that you have finally awoken.”

“What do you mean by ‘awoken’? The last thing that I remember is that I went to sleep with my children surrounding me, fully expecting to never wake up again. And now, I’m 16 again and apparently breathing underwater.” Moana asked, her voice betraying her confusion and just a hint of fear.

“You’ve awoken as a goddess. Specifically as the goddess of wayfinding and wavedancing, because that is what many of your stories depict you as.”

“But what does that mean?” Moana’s eyes were wide as she tried to understand what was happening. “I’m just an ordinary human! I cannot be a goddess!”

“Your lineage was chosen by the deities of the sea and ocean to restore the heart of Te Fiti. You were the first to succeed in the goal, and indeed the first to actually survive the ocean’s fury. That makes your line blessed and then Te Fiti strengthened the blessing so that you would wake up when you gained enough power. And deities gain power as more people know their stories and believe in them, so the generations that told your story all gave you more power, until you finally woke up.”

“I don’t understand this.” Moana said, her eyes shimmering in confusion.

Nāmaka heaved a sigh. “You are a goddess because your people told your story enough times. You’re the goddess of wayfinding and wavedancing. That means that you help teach others the art of wayfinding and those who are too young or too old to go out on the sea alone how to dance with the waves.” Nāmaka moved their arm forward and gently grabbed ahold of Moana’s left wrist. Tapping a finger on the waves tattooed on the wrist that shimmered blue, Nāmaka asked “Do you see these marks? They represent the waves that you danced upon and as you teach more how to dance, more waves will appear with other symbols.” Dropping the wrist, Nāmaka took ahold of Moana’s right wrist, running her finger over the multitudes of minimalist sailboats tattooed onto the skin. “Similarly, each of these sailboats represents someone who learned the art of wayfinding from you.”

Breathing in and out, Moana raised her arms up to inspect the tattoos closer. “I’m a goddess?”

“Until the art of wayfinding dies out completely and no one dances on the shore, you are a goddess and will remain one for all eternity.” Nāmaka confirmed, voice sure and firm. Switching to a slightly teasing tone, Nāmaka added, “That means that you’ll have all eternity to hit Maui with an oar.” Moana let out a chuckle. “Now time to introduce you to your duties. I’m afraid that you’ll have to get off of your coral bed so that I can start you on your journey as a goddess.”

With that Moana stood from the coral bed, a dress of seaweed swaying in the currents.

“All deities have an outfit that they are strongest in, it’s the one that most of your believers picture you in. You can wear different things, but it’ll sap you of your power faster. You need only focus to change into it.”

Closing her eyes, Moana focused. She thought about the journey that she had taken with Maui to return the heart of Te Fiti and how the story would’ve been passed down. With no trace except a faint _swooshing_ sound, Moana’s entire outfit changed. Her feet were bare, around one ankle was a bracelet made from shells and flowers intertwined together. Her skirt was layered Tapas and shredded Pandanas, creating a simple look that was nonetheless elegant. Her top was simarily simplistic, a basic red Tapa crop top with seashells decorating it in a wave pattern. Her wrists held bracelets made from small seashells mixed with small gemstones. On her head was a flower crown created from red flowers. Around her neck was the necklace that Tala had given her that held the heart during her journey. In her hand, Moana clutched an oar that was used with the boat that she sailed with Moana. In her other hand, a seashell dangled limply, ready to be used as a call to action.

“I’m on my way.” Moana said, voice determined and hands tightening on their objects. “I’ll be the best goddess that I can and I’ll find Maui to reunite with him again!”

_A goddess can have her role in the universe changed by the stories that their people tell, but Moana’s was firmly cemented. Her people would know her forever as the girl who reunited the heart with Te Fiti, stopping the spread of the darkness across the sea. The girl who revived wayfinding and danced as one with the sea._

**Author's Note:**

> Essentially, this is a retelling of Moana after several generations(so about 150-200 years, I'm not sure) have heard the story by a female teacher to a group of children(Who do interrupt the story a few times). I know that the events are different, I wrote it that way. If you have ever played the game 'Telephone' or 'Chinese Whispers' you know how a simple sentence can be distorted by the time that 15 kids had passed it on. It's the same idea, each generation changes somethings(both on purpose and accidentally) so that the story is different from the original.
> 
> I hope that you enjoyed the story and that it was worth the read(I might add another story about Moana finding Maui as a goddess, IDK)!


End file.
